Data is Thicker Than
by WerewolvesAreReal
Summary: After their partners leave, most of the digimon go their separate ways. Somehow, though, Gabumon finds himself reluctant to part with Patamon. Gen.


It surprises Gabumon, how quickly they all part.

Agumon is actually the first to leave, which might be an instigating factor. This, too, should be something strange, but on reflection perhaps it is not. Agumon is much like his partner; bold and kind and loyal to his friends, but also rash, and lacking in foresight. Their mission is done, and Agumon wants to explore the digital world. He asks if anyone wants to come with him, but they are tired, tired, tired, and no one does. He leaves alone. That is the start.

Palmon is disconsolate for a time, weeping into her leaves; she abandons them to be pampered by the Geckomon tribe, and will hopefully, Gabumon thinks, be distracted by their flattery. Biyomon makes noises about going to visit her friends in the Yokomon tribe by Mt. Miharashi, and vanishes a few days later without saying good-bye. They do not look for her.

Gatomon has a goal, at least. Gabumon cannot fault her for this. She wants to see what has become of Myotismon's old haunts, and his servants – wants to see what, of his slaves, might be salvaged. This, too, is a personal mission. She does not ask for aid, and they do not offer it. She does give farewells, with the solemnity of one who knows the dangers of the world, and leaves slowly, softly, treading steadily back to the life she has already once forsaken.

Tentomon and Gomamon take longer to leave. Tentomon is an amiable but aimless sort of creature, without his partner, which is perhaps true of all bug-digimon. They are meant to live in hives, after all, to follow a leader or be one themselves. At length Tentomon leaves for the forest. There is always room for another insect among the hiding-trees.

Gomamon seems most reluctant to leave, which is surprising. But he also cannot stay with them, on land, forever. "It's been fun," he says. "You guys are real pals – no one sticks around long, in the water, you know? But if you ever need me, just tell the fishes in the ocean, yeah?"

And there are two.

They make an odd pair, a Gabumon and a Patamon, data and vaccine, beast and holy digimon – they do not even belong in the same climate, not really. Nor are either of their kinds especially social, but for some reason…

"You're not going to leave too, are you, Gabumon?"

"Not unless you leave first."

"Good."

They move to somewhat cooler climates – but not too cold – and when at night the wind nips at their skin and no shelter can be found, Gabumon curls around his strange, furless friend, and wonders if Patamon is also thinking of their missing partners –

_" – Go make sure TK's warm – "_

- but knows, without asking, that he is.

After some time – the humans might say _a month or so_, though the sun rises and falls at such different rates that the term has almost no meaning – they meet a Psychemon in their aimless wandering.

"Strange head ornament, you got there," she says.

Patamon has draped himself over Gabumon's head, wings spread thoughtfully to shade the larger, furred digimon from the sun. "My name's Patamon."

"I didn't ask." To Gabumon: "You, I'm heading to the Gabumon tribe by the Yinika Hills. You want to join me?"

"I didn't know there was a Gabumon tribe."

The digimon waits.

Patamon fidgets uncertainly.

"The orange thing can come," Psychemon adds, unconcerned. "I don't care."

"Why not?" Patamon says, wincing only a little. "You can see more of your kind, and…"

_"Blue Blaster!"_

Psychemon jumps back, but Gabumon has only fired a warning shot. A crackle of blue flame hits the ground at Psychemon's feet.

"Don't talk about my friends like that," Gabumon berates sternly.

"Fine, sheesh," Psychemon mutters. Carelessly, she strolls away.

"What was that about!" Patamon wails. "Gabumon, you could have met more Gabumon!"

_But why would I want to do that_, Gabumon wonders, _only to himself, when you are right here with me?_

* * *

><p>"You can't catch-me," Patamon sing-songs, laughing.<p>

"Of course I can't," Gabumon says. "I don't have wings!"

Patamon just sticks his tongue out on the next fly-by, careless. For a moment, watching his easy arcs through the sky, Gabumon feels a spike of envy. Patamon can fly in all of his evolutions – except as Tokomon, he supposes – but Gabumon has only known the feeling of flight in his Mega-form. Which, now, seems like a very distant dream.

_I wonder,_ he thinks,_ If I'll ever be MetalGarurumon again…_

A pang of longing sweeps through him – but, Patamon does not mean to be cruel. So he smiles, instead of sighing, and sits down to watch as Patamon perches himself from a tree, and –

"Whoops!"

-And falls straight through the tree.

Gabumon claps a paw over his face.

He's ready to just walk over and reprimand Patamon on finding what is probably the _only hiding tree this side of the forest_ when a startled, high-pitched voice wails, breathlessly, "Please, please, leave me alone!"

Gabumon starts to run.

When he gets inside, though, there are no enemies to be seen. Patamon is sitting on his haunches, wings tucked and bent with concern toward a small, cowering Motimon.

Gabumon is familiar with this digimon, of course, though he recognizes immediately that this is not their old friend. But the in-training digimon is clearly not a threat. He sits back and lets Patamon talk.

"Hey, who are you hiding from? We're not going to hurt you, I promise! And my friend isn't as scary as he looks!"

Gabumon huffs.

_Garurumon_ might be called scary. He, on the other hand…

Motimon sniffs. "I-it's that Kuwagamon… It's _always_ Kuwagamon. He took over the whole Motimon Village."

"Why would he do _that_?"

"Some digimon have got it into their heads to become rulers of areas now that the Dark Masters are dead… I don't know what Kuwagamon is thinking, since he's just a Champion, but…"

"Hey, do you think that's the same Kuwagamon we dealt with?" Patamon demands abruptly of Gabumon.

"It could be." Gabumon considers this. " – Why don't we go find out?"

* * *

><p>When they arrive, with their new companion guiding, it's clear to see that Kuwagamon has not given any lenience in trying to establish himself over his younger digivolution forms. The other Motimon are penned up quite firmly, and with them is –<p>

"Hey, that's Tentomon!" Patamon exclaims.

Tentomon, of course, is bound more thoroughly to keep him from flying away; and he seems none too pleased by it, either. Gabumon shakes his head slowly as he surveys the scene.

"We should free Tentomon," Patamon says to the little Motimon, already talking. "Since he's the strongest digimon here… Then the other Motimon, if we can, and we can all attack Kuwagamon together…"

"I don't understand this," Gabumon says to himself.

" – and it shouldn't be too hard," Patamon decides.

"I don't understand this," Gabumon repeats.

"What?"

"How did this happen? Tentomon is here, and over a dozen in-training digimon – he's only one champion! And not a very strong one!" Gabumon shakes his head. "He should have been able to protect them…"

"Tentomon told us to hide," Motimon said. "Then Kuwagamon overpowered him, I guess, and went after us."

"You should have worked together."

"Everyone makes mistakes sometimes," Patamon says.

Gabumon turns his head.

" – Come on. We should free Tentomon."

It isn't hard, in the end, like Patamon said. Tentomon is surprised but pleased to see them – for many and obvious reasons – and, after freeing the Motimon and causing a small opening in the pen, Gabumon and Patamon hide while the group waits for Kuwagamon for return.

It only takes minutes to run off the champion under a barrage of angry bubbles – helped along, of course, by a few boom-bubbles, electric shockers, and Gabumon's own specialty.

The Motimon are grateful. But Patamon and Gabumon, by mutual consensus, decide not to stick around. They visit, though, for a few hours – it's been awhile since they've seen any of the other digimon in their group. The 'chosen' digimon.

When Patamon gets distracted by a few Motimon playing tag some ways off, Tentomon turns to Gabumon, and says, "I'm curious – do you feel some need to watch after him? I'm sure that Patamon can take care of himself, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"Why, I'm not judging," Tentomon hastens to explain. "It is simply that I do not understand why you two are still traveling together, when to my knowledge everyone else has elected to go their own ways…"

Gabumon rubs at his snout. "Well, we haven't."

"Weeeell, I suppose that's your choice…"

When they say good-bye to Tentomon, though, Gabumon wonders.

Is he with Patamon just for company? He could have that with other Gabumon, if he wanted companionship, just like Tentomon is here with his own kind and Biyomon is off at the Yokomon village. Or, is Tentomon's implication correct?

It is, of course, perfectly reasonable for him to worry about Patamon. Even knowing that the other rookie is capable of taking care of himself – Angemon's bright strength is not easily forgotten – Gabumon assures himself that concern would be logical. After all, Matt would be very upset is TK became upset, and if something happened to Patamon TK would be _devastated_, so, it only follows…

But this reasoning strikes hollow, and seems also like an insult to Patamon, who turns to him, sadly, after they've left the village.

"We're stronger together. We figured that out a long time ago, so, why did everyone forget?" Patamon asks plaintively. "Doesn't anyone remember?"

"I don't know," Gabumon says. "Maybe it's easier not to."

"We can take care of ourselves, now, but if we were together, we'd really be something…"

Silence.

"We keep running into these dangerous situations, too," Gabumon says, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably. "I don't think other digimon have this kind of luck."

"Yeah…" A pause. "You know," Patamon says thoughtfully, as the moment stretches on, "Even after saving the world, we never really got a chance to relax. Why don't we try that?"

* * *

><p>"Excellent," Elecmon says. "I always said you were good with babies… although I'm not so sure about you, yet," he adds to Gabumon. "Put away those claws, will you?"<p>

Gabumon blushes.

Primary Village is an odd sort of place to relax, really. Oh, it's safe – only the most twisted of digimon would attack Primary Village – but the frantic, manic air that surrounds any place that hosts scores of baby digimon at any one point in time can hardly be termed _relaxing_.

Still, Gabumon notes, Patamon is clearly enjoying himself. Listening to the mammal's squeals of laughter eases some worry he has not even been aware he is carrying.

"Oh, oh, another one's hatching!" Patamon calls, launching himself from the ground. He spreads his paws into the air, straining his wings as though anxious he might miss something. "Quick, Gabumon!"

"An egg is _always_ hatching here, Patamon," Gabumon calls, but obligingly follows.

Every egg is different, but this one is, admittedly, odd. At least by what Gabumon has seen so far. It has gold and black bands running over its surface, and small, bluish marks that look almost like sparks on the top and bottom of the shell. Gabumon sits down as the egg rocks furiously back and forth, and Patamon flops down over his head, almost blinding the lizard-digimon in his excitement.

Instead of cracking, the egg bursts open with a distinct _poof_ of air, leaving, in its place –

..._Two_ digimon?

"Oh!" Patamon gasps. "Twins!"

Gabumon has heard of this, of course, but he's never seen it. The most common case – really the only _usual_ case – is when Zerimon and Conomon hatch, which makes this even more rare.

Yukimibotomon and Botomon both seem equally surprised by this turn of events, actually. Gabumon wonders if they are _completely_ new digimon, fresh data – that's always exciting.

"Who are you?" asks Yukimibotomon.

"Who are _you_?" asks Botomon.

They both move to peer at one another at precisely the same moment, then yelp as they hit heads.

Patamon giggles. "You're brothers, silly."

"Brothers?" asks Yukimibotomon.

"Yup! That means you stick with each other and look out for each other and love each other and argue a lot – um – well, the arguing probably hides the love, you'll make up eventually, and then it works out! And…" Patamon is clearly trying to think of how Matt and TK interact. "And you do stupid little things to _pretend_ you don't like each other even though you secretly worry about each other all the time, and…"

The baby digimon looks politely baffled. And skeptical.

"How do you know?" Botamon asks.

"Well, I – "

"Do _you_ have brother?" Yukimibotamon interrupts.

Patamon pauses. His wings sag a little, and the enthusiasm drops from his voice. "…Well…"

"Yes," Gabumon says. He doesn't think about it. "Patamon's _my_ brother."

There's a pause. Patamon's eyes grow huge and round.

"…Wow," says Botamon. "You're a pretty big brother."

Gabumon's reply is lost under Patamon's yell of delight, and he falls back with a distinct oomph as the orange digimon tackles him around the middle.

But all in all, he thinks, as the babies watch this 'brotherly' affection with dubious eyes - Matt would probably be proud.


End file.
